The empty seats in the linebackers’ meeting room could have caused the Rams to panic.

Alec Ogletree, gone. Robert Quinn, gone. Connor Barwin, gone. What remained? One starter, Mark Barron, and eight other linebackers, a collection of unproven young hopefuls and NFL career drifters.

So the Rams looked at their list of draft picks, already dwindled by trades, and knew they needed linebackers. Then they promptly used their initial three picks on an offensive tackle, a center and a defensive end. After four rounds, the Rams hadn’t picked a linebacker. No panic.

By the end of the draft, the Rams had acquired four linebackers, one of whom is being heralded as a potential “steal.” The position remains a concern, but the fact that the Rams didn’t overreach simply to put warm bodies in their linebackers’ room speaks to the progress they’ve made in the past 15 months.

Among their 11 picks in this year’s draft, which ended Saturday, the Rams brought in edge rushers Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (fifth round, from Oklahoma) and Trevon Young (sixth round, from Louisville) and inside linebackers Micah Kiser (fifth round, from Virginia) and Travin Howard (seventh round, from TCU).

It’s folly to grade a draft class before a single game has been played, but it’s fair to be impressed with what the Rams pulled off, and perhaps it’s an indication of growing cohesion within the organization.

“I think going into year two,” Coach Sean McVay said after the draft, “you can be a little more strategic with some of the needs. Because collectively, as a coaching staff and with our personnel staff, we have a much better idea of how our players that have been here fit, and the way we want to utilize them.”

The Rams find great value in Oklahoma edge defender Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, the 40th ranked player on our big board pic.twitter.com/rFFamxtLR7

By comparison, 2017 must have felt like a white-knuckle ride. The Rams hired McVay on Jan. 12, exactly 15 weeks before the start of the draft. During that time, the Rams brought in an almost entirely new staff of assistant coaches, overhauled their offensive and defensive schemes and fired four scouts.

At that point, McVay and General Manager Les Snead still were learning about each other. They faced the dire task of improving a team that had gone 4-12 in 2016, amid national-media reports that the relationship between Snead and then-coach Jeff Fisher, and their respective staffs, had become “toxic.”

Now, it seems, much has changed. McVay and Snead breezily toss praise to each other, and the Rams seem to have a firm idea of their identity and how they want to get things accomplished.

That confidence manifested itself at the draft. The Rams built depth along an aging offensive line and brought in tackle Joseph Noteboom (third round, from TCU) and center Brian Allen (fourth round, Michigan State). Defensive end John Franklin (Stephen F. Austin) arrived late in the fourth round.

Then, in a series of jiu-jitsu-style moves, the Rams made multiple trades and got their linebackers. The transaction with the potential to be remembered for a long time is the one that brought in Okoronkwo.

The Rams, in March, sent a fifth-round pick to Denver to acquire veteran cornerback Aqib Talib. Then, on Saturday, the Rams got that pick (No. 160 overall) back from the Broncos, in exchange for two sixth-round picks, and used it on Okoronkwo, a selection heralded by some draft pundits this weekend.

Okoronkwo is a speedy outside linebacker who could pair nicely with Samson Ebukam, a 2017 draft pick who is expected to inherit a starting job as an edge rusher this season.

The Rams also traded picks with Green Bay, moved down in the fifth round and drafted middle linebacker Micah Kiser, a tackle machine from Virginia who is well-regarded for on- and off-field intelligence.

Kiser could contend for playing time with third-year linebacker Cory Littleton, who is expected to inherit Ogletree’s old job alongside Barron in the middle of the Rams’ defense. They also added potential depth with the additions of Louisville’s Young in the sixth round and TCU’s Howard in the seventh.

The new picks are expected to join their veteran teammates in two weeks, as part of the Rams’ offseason program, and then the true evaluation process will begin. It seems, though, that the Rams did a solid job of filling holes, even though they lacked first- and second-round picks for the first time since 1984.

Snead spoke at length this week of his admiration for lesser-known Rams staffers, including area scouts and even the folks who drove potential draft picks to the airport as part of their official visits.

“All of that, it’s a great process,” Snead said. “Sean’s staff, they’re involved, and when you get involved in the personnel side, it’s not easy. There’s a lot of extra work on your plate and they do a heck of a job. This day couldn’t have gone as smooth as it did without their work.”

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.